Review: Brigsby Bear

Brigsby Bear Adventures is a children’s TV show produced for an audience of one: James (Kyle Mooney). When the show abruptly ends, James’ life is changed forever. He sets out to finish the story himself and must learn to cope with the realities of a new world that he knows nothing about.

What We Thought:

Brigsby Bear is this year’s most absurd movie and to me, that’s a positive. It’s so hard to describe and you have to use an odd variety of films to compare it to anything else. Maybe some slight spoilers if you aren’t super knowledgable about the film.

It starts out in a 10 Cloverfield Lane type of way. James is living with his parents in a post apocalyptic world or so he seems. Turns out he was kidnapped as a child, held there by a husband and wife who lied about the outside world being destroyed. They wouldn’t let him go until the authorities finally figured it out. James is then released and struggles to fit in with the real world like Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. The only life he knew was the world of Brigsby Bear Adventures, a TV show he loved and was obsessed with. He thought it had fans around the world that he chatted online with, but it turns out his fake dad made the show himself and no one has any idea what he’s talking about.

But through talking to people, he makes friends and finds people who slowly start loving Brigsby. A new friend releases episodes online and they become a cult hit. Because his fake father is in prison, no new episodes can be made so James and his new friends and real sister decide to make a Brigsby Bear movie to finish the story. Think of it as something similar to Be Kind Rewind. James finds comfort in Brigsby and wearing Brigsby like Michael Fassbender in Frank.

If none of that makes any sense to you, don’t worry, it’s not supposed to. The movie is absolutely absurd, but has a ton of heart and good performances. Saturday Night Live has been garbage for over 20 years now to me so I wasn’t familiar with Kyle Mooney who plays James. I’m sure many of you know who he is, I don’t know. Greg Kinnear can do a character like this in his sleep. That’s not a negative, Kinnear is always solid. The surprise is Mark Hamill. Don’t expect good guy Luke Skywalker in this.

Talking about Brigsby Bear to people who haven’t seen it or have no idea what it is isn’t easy. None of it makes sense and it’s a movie on paper that shouldn’t work. But it does. It’s quirky. It’s weird. It’s strange. It’s original. It’s absurd (yeah I said it again). It’s an odd little Hollywood indie film we don’t get enough of today. I dug it.